Disappearing Acts Gender, Power, and Relational Practice At Work

Chosen as a finalist in the George R. Terry Book Award presented by the Academy of Management for outstanding contribution to the advancement of management knowledge.

With its move from hierarchical to team-based structures and its dismantling of functional barriers, the organization of the future is touted as a radical departure from traditional models. The worker of the future, we are told, must be a collaborative team player, able to give and receive help, empower others, and operate in a world of interdependence. This new worker needs relational skills and emotional intelligence—the ability to work effectively with others and understand the emotional context in which work takes place. Paradoxically, the very skills that give organizations a competitive advantage may be precisely those that prevent individual employees—especially women—from advancing.

In this book Joyce K. Fletcher presents a study of female design engineers that has profound implications for attempts to change organizational culture. Her research shows that emotional intelligence and relational behavior often "get disappeared" in practice, not because they are ineffective but because they are associated with the feminine or softer side of work. Even when they are in line with stated goals, these behaviors are viewed as inappropriate to the workplace because they collide with powerful, gender-linked images of good workers and successful organizations. Fletcher describes how this collision of gender and power "disappears" the very behavior that organizations say they need and undermines the possibility of radical change. She shows why the "female advantage" does not seem to be advantaging females or organizations. Finally, she suggests ways that individuals and organizations can make visible the invisible work—and people—critical to organizational competence and transformation.

Joyce K. Fletcher is Professor of Management at the Center for Gender in Organizations, Simmons Graduate School of Management, and Senior Research Scholar, Jean Baker Miller Training Institute, Stone Center, Wellesley College.